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. 2021 Nov 18;13(11):1951. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13111951

Table 2.

Codelivery of photosensitizers and gene therapy drugs based on nanocarriers.

Nanoparticle Photosensitizers Gene Therapy Drugs Tumor Data Sources Findings Ref
Chlorin e6-DNAzyme/Cu(I)1,2,4-tri-azolate nanoscale coordination polymers (Ce6-DNAzyme/[Cu(tz)] CPs) Chlorin e6 (Ce6) Early Growth Response Factor-1 (EGR-1) targeted DNAzyme MCF-7 In vitro, Animals

  • [Cu(TZ)] CPs and Ce6 induced type 1 and type 2 PDT at 808 nm and 660 nm, respectively, enhancing the therapeutic effect in hypoxia environment (tumor regression rate was 88.0%).

  • Ce6-DNAzyme was degraded by glutathione overexpressed in tumors, resulting in DNAzyme targeted release and catalytic cleavage of EGR-1 mRNA.

 [116] 2021
Cationic guanidylated porphyrin/siRNA complexes (H2-PG/siRNA) Porphyrin Inhibitor of apoptosis siRNA (siIAP) MDA-MB-231 In vitro

  • The H2-PG/siRNA complex promoted siRNA internalization.

  • Cationic guanidylated modification did not affect the PDT activity of porphyrin.

 [117] 2019
CaCO3 layer modified MnO2 NPs (Mn@CaCO3) Indocyanine green (ICG) Programmed death ligand 1 siRNA (siPD-L1) Lewis In vitro, Animals

  • Increased oxygen production mediated by MnO2 and reduced H+ consumption mediated by CaCO3 jointly enhanced the PDT effect.

  • siPD-L1 silencing and PDT together activated the immune system, mediating a powerful antitumor immune response.

 [118] 2019
(PGL-NH2)2 and fluorocarbon inert gas of C3F8 grafted cationic porphyrin microbubbles (CpMBs)/siRNA Porphyrin Pioneer transcription factor 1 siRNA (siFOXA1) MCF-7 In vitro, Animals

  • Enhanced drug loading of photosensitizer and siRNA.

  • Under the guidance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound, the accumulation of local microbubbles in tumors was significantly increased through the ultrasound-induced superpore effect.

  • The codelivery system showed superior breast cancer inhibition.

 [119] 2018
(NaYF4:Yb, Er) upconversion NPs (UCNPs) 5,10,15,20-tetrakis (1-methyl pyridinium-4-yl) porphyrin (TMPyP4) ssDNA with chitosan aptamer (AS1411) and chitosan-targeted DNAzyme MCF-7 In vitro, Animals

  • The multivalence of the ssDNA endowed the UCNPs with high recognition and loading capacity of TMPyP4 and DNAzymes.

 [120] 2020
Versatile function of cationic phosphonium-conjugated polythiophenes Polythiophenes Luciferase gene siRNA MDA-MB-231 In vitro

  • The vector effectively self-assembled with siRNA and mediated effective gene silencing (35% and 52% gene silencing efficiencies, respectively).

  • After successful delivery of siRNA, the photoactivity of the vector was restored, which could mediate further PDT.

 [121] 2020
Cationic polyporphyrin vectors Porphyrin Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α siRNA (siHIF-1α) H22 In vitro, Animals

  • Cationic photosensitive drugs were polymerized by an ROS splitting linker to achieve separation in space and avoid ACQ effects and could be used as a carrier to deliver siRNA.

  • Mediated effective intracellular internalization and gene silencing efficiency (60%), synergistic enhancement of phototoxicity.

 [122] 2021
Periodic mesoporous ionosilica NPs (PMINPs) Tetrasilylated porphyrin precursor Luciferase gene siRNA MDA-MB-231-Luc-RFP In vitro

  • PDT effectively induced cell death with 95% mortality.

  • As a delivery carrier of siRNA, it can successfully escape from endosomes and play a therapeutic role, with gene silencing efficiency up to 83%.

  • It presented triple functions, namely, imaging, PDT and PCI.

 [123] 2021
Dendritic arginine-rich peptide conjugated with cystamine-modified stearic acid (ALS) HPPH Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) siVEGF HeLa In vitro, Animals

  • Alternating low and high doses of light drove siRNA internalization and PDT, respectively.

  • The liver and lung metastasis of HeLa cells were successfully inhibited, and the therapeutic effect was superior.

 [58] 2021